12/3/2020 0 Comments India - Traffic in BangaloreOne aspect of India that I loved was its “all at once” attitude. Contradictions were everywhere and in full view. For example, Bangalore was in the midst of an uncontrolled technology boom with building and scaffolding occurring everywhere I looked. But, along the roadside, the poverty was intense. Or, the educational system was quite extraordinary for the top 10-20% of the country, but village life for the majority of the country belonged to a previous century. I felt that the traffic in Bangalore also served as a remarkable metaphor for this “all at once” experience, that it needed its own blog post. I have included a traffic photo but to get the full and troublesome experience, including the sound, go to YouTube Bangalore traffic. From my travels to India from 2002 – 2007, I was, at first, terrified and then fascinated by Bangalore traffic. The Indians drive on the left side of the road. A major road runs through and around the City and has, what appeared to me, six lanes on each side. The lanes are not marked, and there is a sense of a free-for-all, but drivers generally appear to follow certain guidelines. The largest cars, say, SUVs, which was the type of vehicle provided by our hotel with a driver, are apparently entitled to the most interior lane (I will call it lane 6). In lane 5 are regular 4 door cars, then lane 4 are the auto-rigshaws (three-wheelers), then motorcycles, sometimes with a family of 4 people on one motorcycle, then bicycles and non-motorized rigshaws, meaning someone pulling a cart, and in the final lane are walkers, mothers with baby strollers, and also important, cows! To get the full experience, add to this wildness several buses that end up in any lane whatsoever. A basic rule is that if any car (say our SUV) is behind any other car that is not going fast enough (and they never are), our driver honks, not a blaring honk but more like a “beep-beep”, (think the cartoon character “road runner”) and something miraculous happens. The car in front does its best to move over to the left. In general, as the car that was in front of us tries to move over, the driver in the abutting left lane attempts to let him in. This causes disruption and leads to accidents (more on that later). In the meantime, this same “beep-beep” routine continues and cars keep continually moving over. So even though there is not a nasty blaring on the horn, there is so much noise that it is cacophonous. Although this would be more than enough to freak anyone out, this is just the beginning. There are cross roads attempting to enter into the road. On occasion, there are stop lights and even policemen, but mostly not. So, somehow or other, cross traffic cars enter into the melee and get into the action. That includes all the types of vehicles and walkers. I already mentioned that on the most outside lane are people and cows. There is often some scrub grass along the road to entertain the cows. But it inevitably that a cow decides to go from its most outside lane and walk towards the inside lane. It is definitely NOT OK to hit a cow. So, traffic must come to some kind of accommodation until the cow can be brought back to its rightful lane. Cows are protected and revered in India as part of the Hindu tradition. Once I saw a bus that hit and I believe killed a cow. The bus driver was pulled out of the bus and was surrounded by a very angry looking crowd. I don’t know how it ended. During my time in India, I wondered and worried how much worse the traffic would become as the enormity of uncontrolled building continued unabated. In fact, while writing this blog, I read a number of recent stories and articles stating that the traffic in Bangalore may now be rated the very worst world-wide. Yikes! A Car Accident On one occasion, Peter and I took a smaller 4-door car to visit another part of the city. We were in traffic when our driver heard the “beep-beep” from behind and he dutifully attempted to pull over. Either he did not notice the auto-rigshaw on his left or the auto-rigshaw driver did not slow down and let him in, but it was a loud crash. The auto-rigshaw also had people in it. The driver of the auto-rigshaw stopped his car in the midst of insane traffic and got out of his vehicle, furious. That he was not hit by another vehicle was a little miracle in itself, as the cars, motorcycles, etc. swerved around him. His vehicle was definitely damaged and he wanted our driver to pay him. They spoke in Hindi and we could not understand the words but the anger and the gestures were universal. The auto-rigshaw driver would not let our driver get back into our car. He blocked the door and would not leave until he received money. In the meantime, all the drivers behind us had to pull over to the left (somehow) to get by. Lots of honking! Eventually our driver paid the other driver some money, and they both yelled at each other and got back in their vehicles. When our driver calmed down, we asked him if this “method” of resolving accidents was typical. “Oh yes”, he said, “very little insurance. This is just the way we do it.” Categories
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David FeldmanDog walker, Dog Mediator, Father, Husband, Categories |